Fujifilm X30 Optics

Zoom
A 4x zoom, with very good performance.

The Fuji X30 is equipped with a 7.1-28.4mm lens, offering an optical zoom ratio of 4x, translating to a 35mm-equivalent focal range of about 28-112mm. The lens is very fast (bright) for its type, with a maximum aperture ranging from f/2.0 at wide angle to f/2.8 at telephoto, which is excellent for low-light shooting and provides reduced depth-of-field for better subject isolation.

Far-field performance in general is quite good at f/4 as shown above, with good sharpness and contrast across most of the frame, low chromatic aberration (like most cameras, the X30 suppresses it in JPEGs) and only minor softening in the corners at full wide angle. A touch of flare can however be seen around some bright highlights. Performance at full telephoto is very good with excellent sharpness and contrast across almost the entire frame. See below for lab results on macro performance, geometric distortion, corner softness, etc.

Macro
A larger than average minimum coverage area in standard macro mode, but a very small area in Super macro mode, with very good detail. Flash exposure was uneven in standard mode, and flash is not supported in Super mode.

The Fuji X30 captured a larger than average sized minimum area measuring 3.34 x 2.51 inches (85 x 64 millimeters) in standard macro mode. Sharpness over much of the frame is very good, and corners only show a bit of softness at f/8 (most lenses show some softening in the corners at macro distances). Exposure with the flash is uneven with the top-left portion of the frame overexposed, and the lens cast a shadow in the bottom right making it very dark. In Super macro mode, the minimum area is much smaller at 1.21 x 0.90 inches (31 x 23 mm) with very good detail, however it's too close to support flash. You'll likely want to use external lighting for the closest X30 macro shots.

Geometric Distortion
Low distortion in camera JPEGs, but high in uncorrected RAW files at wide angle.

Thanks to in-camera distortion correction, there's relatively low geometric distortion in the X30's JPEG files at wide angle. At full wide angle, we measured just under 0.5% barrel distortion which is fairly low and not very noticeable. At full telephoto, distortion was negligible, at about 0.05% pincushion distortion. This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel -- usually at wide-angle) or inward (like a pincushion -- usually at telephoto).

To see how much correction is taking place in the camera, we converted RAW files from the above shots with RawDigger, which does not correct for distortion. As you can see at wide angle, barrel distortion much higher, at about 2.1%, while full telephoto shows about 0.4% pincushion distortion.

We expect to see fairly significant distortion in uncorrected RAW files in fast, compact lenses, as allowing this gives the lens designers greater flexibility in optimizing center sharpness and other aberrations, as well as in reducing cost, size, and weight. The downside is that strong distortion correction contributes to additional blurring in the corners of the frame where pixels are "stretched" during correction and where lenses are usually already a bit soft. Note that most RAW converters are capable of applying distortion correction automatically, though, as specified by the manufacturer in an embedded lens profile.

Chromatic Aberration and Corner Sharpness
Low to very low chromatic aberration in JPEGs. The lens produces some slightly soft corners wide-open, though corner sharpness improves stopped-down.

Chromatic Aberration. Thanks to in-camera chromatic aberration suppression, there's moderately low CA in the corners at wide angle, and CA is quite low at telephoto in JPEGs. As expected, though, uncorrected RAW files (see below) show more CA than seen above, particularly at wide angle.

Corner Softness. Wide-open at full wide angle, the X30's lens shows remarkable performance in the corners with just a bit of softness in all four corners despite the strong correction, while the center is quite sharp. At full telephoto, the lower right corner is also just slightly soft, while the other corners are sharper and the center is sharp.

Vignetting. There's no vignetting (corner shading) with corners actually slightly brighter than the center, a good indication it's corrected in firmware.

F4: As is often the case, stopping down a few clicks improves corner performance at both wide angle and telephoto, however corners are still a bit soft at wide angle though contrast is improved.

Chromatic Aberration Correction

As you can see in the crops from uncorrected RAW images on the right (taken from RAF files converted with RawDigger), the X30's lens produces moderately high and bright lateral chromatic aberration at maximum wide angle but moderately low levels full telephoto. Thus, the X30's processor does a great job suppressing CA in camera JPEGs (crops on the left). Note that most RAW converters should automatically suppress CA when converting the X30's RAF files.

Overall, very good performance from the X30's lens, especially considering how fast (bright) it is, though it may be susceptible to flare when very bright objects are in or just outside the frame.

Coverage
Good accuracy from the LCD monitor and electronic viewfinder.

The Fuji X30's LCD monitor and EVF both provide about 98% coverage at wide angle, and about 99% coverage at telephoto. This is good performance, especially considering the amount of geometric distortion correction taking place at wide angle.